Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T21:58:51.645Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Buddhism, Human Rights and Constitutional Reform in Thailand

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2015

Andrew Harding*
Affiliation:
University of Victoria

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to address the relationship between Buddhism, constitutional reform and human rights in Thailand. It poses the questions: To what extent is the Thai state Buddhist in character? How are we to describe the relationship between Buddhism and the state? Can and should human rights be supported or presented as being supported by Buddhism, or interpreted according to Buddhist ideas? The historical relationship between the state and the sangha is examined, in which the state used religion to bolster the state's legitimacy. The place of Buddhism, human rights and the Human Rights Commission under the 1997 constitutional reforms is then addressed, in the context in particular of the problem of insurgency in the Southern provinces. It is concluded that the constitution-makers rightly refused to make Buddhism the state religion but that attempts to disseminate human rights understanding in Buddhist terms are justified, provided inter-faith dialogue is part of this process.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

List of bibliographical references

Bendix, R. (1977), Max Weber: An Intellectual Portrait (Berkeley, University of California Press [1960])Google Scholar
Uwanno, Bowornsak and Burns, W.D. (1998), ‘The Thai Constitution of 1997: Sources and Process32 University of British Columbia Law Review 227 Google Scholar
Uwanno, Borwornsak (2000), ‘Depoliticizing Key Institutions for Combating Corruption: Case Study of the New Thai Constitution’ (Bangkok, King Prajadhipok's Institute)Google Scholar
Engel, D.M. (1979), Law and Kingship in Thailand During the Reign of King Chulalongkorn (Ann Arbor, University of Michigan)Google Scholar
Engel, D.M. (2005), ‘Globalization and the Decline of Legal Consciousness: Torts, Ghosts, and Karma in Thailand,” 30 Law and Social Inquiry 469.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haller, K.J. and Siroros, Patcharee (2003), (ed), Legal Foundations for Public Consultation in Government Decision-Making (Bangkok, Executive Public Administration Foundation)Google Scholar
Harding, A.J. (2001), ‘May there be Virtue; “New Asian Constitutionalism” in Thailand’, Australian Journal of Asian Law, 3: 2448 Google Scholar
Harding, A.J. (2005), ‘Thailand's Reforms: Human Rights and the National Commission1 Journal of Comparative Law 88 (2006)Google Scholar
Hewison, K. (1997) (ed), Political Change in Thailand: Democracy and Participation (London, Routledge)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huxley, A. (1996) (ed), Thai Law: Buddhist Law: Essays on the Legal History of Thailand, Laos and Burma (Bangkok, White Lotus Press)Google Scholar
Jackson, P. A. (1989), Buddhism, Legitimation, and Conflict: the Political Functions of Urban Thai Buddhism (Singapore, ISEAS)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jumbala, P. (1998), ‘Thailand: Constitutional Reform Amidst Economic Crisis,’ in Southeast Asian Affairs 1998 (Singapore, ISEAS)Google Scholar
Keyes, C.F. (1973), ‘The Power of Merit’, in Visaka Puja (Bangkok, Buddhist Association of Thailand)Google Scholar
Klein, J. (1998), ‘The Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand, 1997: A Blueprint for Participatory Democracy’ (Bangkok, Asia Foundation Working Paper No. 8, 1998)Google Scholar
Klein, J. (2001a), ‘The Evolution of Thailand's National Human Rights Commission, 1992-2001’, in Nelson, M.H. (ed), Thailand's New Politics: KPI Yearbook 2001 (Nonthaburi and Bangkok: King Prajadhipok's Institute and White Lotus Press)Google Scholar
Klein, J. (2001b), ‘The Battle for Rule of Law in Thailand: The Constitutional Court of Thailand’, in Raksasataya, A. and Klein, J.R. (ed) The Constitutional Court of Thailand: The Provisions and The Working of the Court (Bangkok, Constitution for the People Society)Google Scholar
Leyland, P. (2006), ‘ Droit Administratif Thai Style: A Comparative Analysis of the Administrative Courts in Thailand’, Australian Journal of Asian Law, forthcoming, 2006Google Scholar
Dhiravegin, Likit (2003), ‘The Constitution - Political and Executive Reform’ (Bangkok, KPI 2003), www.kpi.ac.th/downl oad/Reformed.pdf Google Scholar
Loos, T. (2006), Subject Siam: Family, Law, and Colonial Modernity in Thailand (Ithaca, Cornell University Press)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCargo, D. (2002), (ed), Reforming Thai Politics (Copenhagen, NIAS)Google Scholar
McDorman, T. (1995), ‘The 1991 Constitution of Thailand3:2 Pacific Rim Law and Policy Journal 257 Google Scholar
Morrell, D., and Samudavanija, C., Political Conflict in Thailand: Reform, Reaction, Revolution (Gunn and Hain, Cambridge, Mass., 1982)Google Scholar
Morris, C. (2004), ‘Case Studies in Religion and Peacebuilding: Cambodia’, in Coward, H., and Smith, G. (ed), Religion and Peacebuilding (Albany, New York, SUNY Press)Google Scholar
Nelson, M. H. (2001), (ed), Thailand's New Politics: KPI Yearbook 2001 (Nonthaburi and Bangkok, King Prajadhipok's Institute and White Lotus Press)Google Scholar
Nelson, M.H. (2003), (ed), Thai Politics: Local and Global Perspectives: KPI Yearbook 2002/03 (Bangkok, King Prajadhipok's Institute)Google Scholar
Phongaichit, P. and Piriyarangsan, S. (1996), Corruption and Democracy in Thailand (Chiang Mai, Silkworm Books)Google Scholar
Nanakorn, Pinai (2002), ‘Re-making of the Constitution in Thailand’, 6 Singapore Journal of International and Comparative Law 90 Google Scholar
Kasemsup, Preedee (1996), ‘Reception of Law in Thailand - a Buddhist Society’, ch.6 of Chiba, M. (ed), Asian Indigenous Law: in Interaction with Received Law (??)Google Scholar
Sukatipan, Saitip (1995), ‘Thailand: the Evolution of Legitimacy’, ch.8 of Alagappa, M. (ed), Political Legitimacy in South East Asia (Stanford, Stanford University Press)Google Scholar
Suksamran, Somboon (1984), Phutthasaasanaa Kap Kaan-plian-plaeng Thaang Kaanmyang Lae Sangkhom [Buddhism and Political and Social Change] (Bangkok, Chulalongkorn University Press)Google Scholar
Streckfuss, D. and Templeton, M. (2002), ‘Human Rights and Political Reform in Thailand’, ch.6 of McCargo, D. (ed), Reforming Thai Politics (Copenhagen, NIAS)Google Scholar
Thomson, C.N. et al (2003), (ed), Monitoring the Pulse of the Nation: Indicators of Good Governance and Development in Thailand (Bangkok, KPI)Google Scholar
Winichakul, Thongchai (1994), Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-body of a Nation (Bangkok, Silkworm Books)Google Scholar
Turton, A. (1984), ‘Limits of Ideological Domination and the Formation of Social Consciousness’, in Turton, A., and Shigeharu, T., (ed), History and Peasant Consciousness in South East Asia (Senri Ethnological Series, no.13, Osaka, National museum of Ethnology, 1984), at 21.Google Scholar
Muntarbhorn, Vitit and Taylor, C. (1994), Roads to Democracy: Human Rights and Democratic Development in Thailand (Montreal, International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development/Centre International des Droits de la Personne et du Developpement Democratique)Google Scholar
Muntarbhorn, Vitit (1996), ‘Human Rights in Thailand’, in Palmier, L. (ed), State and Law in Eastern Asia (Dartmouth, Aldershot)Google Scholar
Muntarbhorn, Vitit (2004), ‘Rule of Law and Aspects of Human Rights in Thailand: From Conceptualization to Implementation?’, ch.11 of Peerenboom, R. (ed), Asian Discourses of Rule of Law: Theories and Implementation of Rule of Law in Twelve Asian Countries, France and the US (London, Routledge)Google Scholar
Muntarbhorn, Vitit (2006), ‘Human Rights in the Era of “Thailand Inc.”’, ch.10 of Peerenboom, R., Petersen, Carole J., and Chen, Albert H.Y. (ed), Human Rights in Asia: A Comparative Legal Study of Twelve Asian Jurisdictions (London, Routledge)Google Scholar